The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. 2002.
mercantilism
(MUR-kuhn-tee-liz-uhm, MUR-kuhn-ti-liz-uhm, MUR-kuhn-teye-liz-uhm) An economic doctrine that flourished in Europe from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. Mercantilists held that a nation’s wealth consisted primarily in the amount of gold and silver in its treasury. Accordingly, mercantilist governments imposed extensive restrictions on their economies to ensure a surplus of exports over imports. In the eighteenth century, mercantilism was challenged by the doctrine of laissez-faire. (See also Adam Smith.)
